The AI Opportunity: The UAE Forges Ahead with Ambitious Strategies 

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is going full throttle, with new technologies disrupting the world every other day - or so it feels. NFTs, cryptocurrencies, metaverse, blockchain, big data… It can be hard to sift through the chaos and separate hyped but short-lived concepts from the ones that are true game changers. 

And now, a new player has entered the chat: artificial intelligence (AI), described by its founding father and cognitive scientist John McCarthy as “the science and engineering of making intelligent machines.”  

AI had been in the works for decades but the release of OpenAI’s Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) model in November 2022 instantaneously changed the name of the game. Only five days after its unveiling, ChatGPT-3 drew a million users in one of the fastest consumer product launches in history, leaving Google, Chinese search giant Baidu, and a flurry of start-ups scrambling to release their own AI tools in record time. 

Since, AI-powered software has been proliferating across different industries, and the UAE is already taking steps to fully embrace its massive potential: according to Google’s “The Future of AI in the Middle East and North Africa” report, the MENA region is projected to generate a staggering $320 billion in added value from AI by 2030; and its economic contribution is expected to grow annually at rates ranging from 20% to 34% across the region, with the UAE and Saudi Arabia leading the way.

A real, ambitious programme for artificial intelligence in the UAE

In recent years, several MENA countries have unveiled their AI strategies, showcasing their commitment to harness the potential of artificial intelligence. The UAE released its own in 2017 as part of UAE Centennial 2071, its government plan for the next five decades, aiming to become one of the world leaders in AI by 2031. Spearheaded by the UAE’s Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications Office, this strategy has set eight key objectives:

1. Build a reputation as an AI destination. To that end, a UAE AI Seal (UAI) brand aims to attract talent and business from across the globe to come to the UAE to test and develop AI.

2. Increase the UAE competitive assets in priority sectors through deployment of AI. Within five priority sectors, the UAE government funds or brokers pilot projects designed by public sector, private sector or consortia. For example, the AI Office is already working with various private companies to develop pilots that use quantum computing to support health diagnostics and global energy supply management.

3. Develop a fertile ecosystem for AI. The government aims to build expert connections through an AI network of researchers, industry experts and policy experts from across the UAE, while also providing a variety of funding, partnership, incubation, mentoring, and other opportunities to local and foreign AI technology firms.

4. Adopt AI across customer services to improve lives and government. The National AI Challenges is a programme fostering creative ideas across government, universities and the private sector to tackle the UAE’s distinctive challenges, with funding, mentoring, and access to data as prizes. Meanwhile, the UAE Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain Council aims to identify how and where AI can be incorporated in government and what supporting infrastructure it requires to improve the experience and cost of government transactions and services. 

5. Attract and train talent for future jobs enabled by AI. In the UAE, around 43% of existing work activities have the potential to be automated across key sectors such as administration, government, manufacturing and construction. Free courses help raise general awareness and understanding of AI technologies, while upskilling professionals with expert digital and analytic skills and STEM students with specialist courses should help increase the number of AI experts. 

6. Bring world-leading research capability to work with target industries. The National Virtual AI Institute will aggregate the best local and global expertise in the region, encouraging more R&D, collaboration, and commercialisation, while the Key Thinkers Programme will invite AI experts to participate in workshops and lectures with local universities and businesses. In addition, the AI Office will work on creating an AI Library, an open-access digital library of research and papers in both English and Arabic. 

7. Provide the data and supporting infrastructure essential to become a test bed for AI. With a diverse mix of more than 200 nationalities residing in the UAE, the country has a unique opportunity to become a leader in available open data for training and developing AI systems. A data-sharing programme will provide shared, open, and standardised AI-ready data, collected through a consistent data standard. This will require a secure data infrastructure will be necessary to facilitate data sharing, and manage privacy concerns. 

8. Ensure strong governance and effective regulation. The UAE’s ambition is to take a leading role in the development of responsible AI and advancing the regulation of AI, starting with a national governance review of issues such as data management, ethics, and cybersecurity, along with the latest international best practices in legislation and global risks from AI as well as international conferences and roundtables.

With the potential of AI generating up to AED 335 billion in the UAE economy, the government centres its investment in the people and industries that are key to the country’s success, first building on its existing strengths, and then focusing on opportunities where it can lead. For example, the potential of an AED136 billion gain in services and trade sectors played a significant role in the decision to choose tourism as a priority sector, especially since it could likely have spillovers into other service sectors. 

Everybody’s on the AI train

Venture capital players are also bolstering the growth of AI in the region. For example, last February, Shorooq Partners, a seed stage venture capital firm founded in 2017 in Abu Dhabi, partnered with private equity firm Gulf Capital (“GC”) to back Santechture, a HealthTech cloud-based Software as a Service (“SaaS”) company leveraging the latest advancements in AI and deep technology to offer innovative solutions to healthcare providers.

AI is actually blurring the lines between healthcare, enterprise, and fintech. Along the same lines as Santechture, Klaim is on a mission to simplify healthcare payments through an AI-driven claim management SaaS platform used in Dubai clinics, pharmacies, and hospitals, with more than 1.5 million transactions.

In fact, the healthcare industry itself has embraced AI in many areas, including diagnosis, telemedicine, and drug discovery. For example, the UAE’s Ministry of Health and Prevention has implemented an AI-powered system to detect COVID-19 cases swiftly and accurately, while AI is used in diagnosing and treating diabetic retinopathy in Saudi Arabia. Recognising the growing importance of mental health, regional start-ups like uMore and Humacy have also harnessed the power of AI, developing apps that allow users to monitor and maintain their mental well-being.

And FinTech, the most funded of the tech ecosystems in the MEAPT region, has seen significant AI-driven advancements. Dubai-based start-up Sarwa, for example, raised close to $25 million in total funding to revolutionise financial technology and uses AI-powered algorithms, enabling users to easily trade stocks, purchase cryptocurrencies, and passively invest their money within a single platform. 

With McKinsey predicting that by 2030, around 45% of existing work in the Middle East could be automated, the economic impact of AI on the MENA region is, and will continue to be substantial. Not participating in the race for AI adoption simply isn’t an option.